


and she in mine

by dragonesdepapel



Series: How many fics can I get away with using the same concept [2]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Catra didn't get taken aboard Prime's ship in the s4 finale, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fluff, Getting Together, Hopeful Ending, Kissing, POV Catra (She-Ra), Post-Season/Series 04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:53:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24720352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonesdepapel/pseuds/dragonesdepapel
Summary: The Fright Zone is destroyed, Hordak is gone, and Catra doesn't have anywhere else to go. Now, for some reason, she’s tagging along with Bow on his trip back to Bright Moon.Nothing really makes sense anymore.Because sadiewrites said: "I imagined Catra's thought thread when Adora pinned her to the bed and that made me laugh. Like, if you wrote an extra of that I would print it and paste it on my wall." and I took it as a challenge. (This is its own fic though, you don't need to read the previous one in the series to undertand it.)
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Series: How many fics can I get away with using the same concept [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1787275
Comments: 5
Kudos: 123





	and she in mine

**Author's Note:**

> So this is Catra's pvo from another one of my [fics.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24081622/chapters/57959947) You don't need to read it to make sense of this fic, but the original one does have two bonus possible endings so you might still want to check it out if you like this one (:

Bow offers to take her back with him. She doesn’t say yes, but she doesn’t say no either. What’s the point? The Horde is destroyed, there’s nothing left for her here. Scorpia, Double Trouble, Lonnie, Rogelio, her troops, they’ve all left her. And right when she thought Sparkles had come to finally end it all...she hadn’t. Then it looked like the end of the world was happening, except that that had gotten canceled too. So yeah, she had followed Glimmer to the Black Garnet Chamber, and taken a blow that was meant for the princess. Whatever, she just wanted to get back at Hordak. Then Hordak and Glimmer had both disappeared in a beam of green light while Catra was getting ready to g back to the fight.

And now she’s tagging along with Bow on his trip back to Bright Moon.

Nothing really makes sense anymore.

They find Adora kneeling on the ground, looking at the sky.  Catra stops dead on her tracks. She can’t be here. What is  Catra even doing? She followed Adora’s best friend back to her. Now she has really lost it.

Adora and Bow are hugging, too  preoccupied with each other, and  Catra could use the opportunity to run. They  won't follow  her; they have no reason to.

But would it be worth it?

She has nowhere else to go, no more tricks left under her sleeve. The Rebellion is still her enemy, and she might benefit from being taken to the heart of it. Bow being dumb enough to trust her is a gift she’s in no condition to refuse right now.

Bow lets go of Adora, and  Catra can pinpoint the exact moment she notices her standing there. Took her long enough, she’s losing her touch a bit. Adora takes a step forward, putting herself between Bow and  Catra . Really, doesn’t she ever get tired of playing the hero?  Catra would yawn, but she’s not even worth the effort.

“What are you doing here?” Adora says in what she probably thinks is a menacing voice.

Bow jumps in to explain her presence.  Catra has stopped caring at this point. Adora starts walking, Bow hastens his pace to keep up with her, and  Catra stays a good couple of feet behind them. They don’t slow down until they reach the gates of the castle, and there are a few moments during the trip where  Catra asks herself if maybe she miscalculated how much of a pain in the ass this whole thing was going to be.

“You deal with her,” Adora spits out before she turns a corner and gets out of sight.

Great, at least  Catra won’t have to see her stupid face for the rest of the night. Bow looks at her and shrugs, and seriously, does he think they are friends now? Catra doesn’t have friends, not anymore.

“We need to find King Micah,” Bow says and that does perk up  Catra’s ears a little.

Isn’t King Micah dead? Even  Catra knows that, and she skipped Force Captain orientation. But no, apparently this day wasn’t ridiculous enough, and she can now add seeing the long-lost King of Bright Moon struggling with drinking out of a teacup to the list of things that have happened today.

Catra is exhausted, and she doesn’t care to see the King tear up after hearing that her daughter is now gone, and all she wants is to rest but she's not going to just take a seat next to them. She leans against the wall, away from everyone else, but close enough that she can still notice when the subject changes towards herself. She might not know what hole they dug him up from, but it seems to have been a very deep one. Catra makes a mental note of this, a powerful figure with not enough grasp of current events? That’s an opportunity right there.

Bow doesn’t get very far into his story before Adora is storming inside the room. Typical Adora, can’t go anywhere without making  a scene.

“I’ll take  Catra ,” she announces, loudly.

She marches straight towards her, grabs her by the wrist and drags her away.  Catra’s too tired to argue. Plus, she put all her energy into not hissing out in pain when Adora pulled her by injured arm.

Catra doesn’t know what she’s expecting, but it probably wasn’t to be taken to what looks like Adora’s room in the castle. The thought tugs uncomfortably at her stomach, but  Catra pushes it away. Adora hasn’t lived at the Horde for years, and  Catra has had her own room for a long time too.

Adora turns to glare at her.  “What are you doing here?”

Catra rolls her eyes. “You brought me here?”

“Cut the crap, Catra, I’m not in the mood for any of your mind games,” Adora says sharply, and why did Catra think that this was a good idea again?

“What do you want from me, Adora?” she yells.

She’s not playing this game. Adora can throw her out, she doesn’t care anymore. But she’s done fighting, for tonight at least. There’s no scheming, no secret agenda except to figure out what the hell she’s supposed to do now. And she can’t do that if she’s running circles around her. Adora looks like she has physically punched her though. She even blinks a couple of times before she answers, as if she were holding back tears.

Adora whispers, “I want my best friend back.”

And isn’t that such an Adora thing to say? She’s the one who left  Catra , and now she expects her to feel bad about it?

“Such a crybaby. Is this what the Rebellion has made of you?” She rolls her eyes and walks past her, getting closer to the bed.

“Why did you save Glimmer?” Adora asks, because she clearly isn’t taken the hint that  Catra is not on the mood for talking.

“I wasn’t saving her, I wanted to take Hordak out.”

Adora looks at her questioningly, but  Catra is not about to recount the way everything she had worked for her whole life had suddenly collapsed around her. Especially not to her. Adora sighs, and goes to sit on the bed. For a moment, Catra thinks that maybe now she’ll grant her some peace.

“Why did you come here?”

But of course, that was too good to be true. “Why are you so obsessed with me, Adora?” she snaps,  exasperated .

Adora has the nerve to roll her eyes. “Right, because inviting the Horde’s second in command to our base of operations without asking any questions is obviously a very sound strategy.”

Catra wants to tell her that it’s not like any of her strategies have ever been very sound before. She wants to tell her it’s not her fault every single person in the Rebellion is an idiot. She wants to tell her that she’s here to end them all from the inside. She wants to yell at her and claw at her and she wants-

She wants so many things. That has always been  Catra’s problem.

But this is getting her none of them.

She looks at Adora, who holds her gaze. Maybe she can try something different for tonight. It might at least get her some rest.  Catra sits on the other side of Adora’s bed and doesn’t look at her when she speaks again.

“It’s not like I had any other options.”

She feels Adora’s eyes on her, and she knows she’s waiting for her to elaborate. She knows Adora hates her, but does she have to make her life so difficult?

“ Hordak and I didn’t leave things in the best terms,” she says hoping it’ll be enough. There’s no way she’ll be allowed to be as free in this castle if they find out exactly what she did. “The Horde is in shambles, and I doubt anyone on this whole planet stands a chance against Horde Prime anyway.”

“And yet you are still here.”

Catra shrugs, and that, finally, seems to be enough for Adora. She lies on her back and stares at the ceiling.  Catra watches her from the corner of her eye, following the multitude of emotions that cross Adora’s face.

“If you start crying, I’m leaving,” she warns when she sees Adora’s lip start trembling.

Adora runs her hands over her face, then presses her hands over her eyes. When she lets them fall, a determined expression has taken over them.  Catra sighs, that can’t possibly mean anything good for her.

“Why haven’t you? Left, I mean. You didn’t even resist me bringing you here in the first place,” Adora says, lifting her head to look at her.

It doesn’t look comfortable, and Catra lets herself flop down on her back too. “Would you have let me? I figured it was easier this way.”

They stay in silence after that. This time, whatever was troubling Adora doesn’t seem to make its presence  known again.  Catra shifts a little to give her hurt shoulder a more comfortable position. This isn’t so bad, she guesses. Better than sleeping on the floor in the middle of a ruined Fright Zone, even if she has to deal with Adora.

“I meant it, you know,” Adora says, because she has never made anything easy for her. “I do miss you.”

At any other moment, that would have meant nothing to her. Just Adora making herself the victim all over again. But this is the first time in years they’ve shared a bed. This is the first time in years they’ve lied side by side, resting after a  grueling day. Could Adora really mean it?  Catra hates herself for even having that thought, but the hope is right there in her mind before she has had time to stomp it down to the deepest part of her  subconscious , where it belongs.

“You are not getting me to say it back.”

Adora is smug when she says, “You don’t need to.”

The hope within her flickers and grows. It’s a weakness. A mistake, one she should have stopped making years ago. But  Catra wouldn’t be  Catra if she wasn’t always wanting  things she never thought she’d have. And in the end, she had made those things happen for herself. She had climbed to the highest position of the Horde. Hell, she had made more in a couple of months than  Hordak had in all of his time on Etheria.

And then it had all been taken away too.

But that didn’t mean she hadn’t had it in the first place.

Without looking, her hand crosses the space between her and Adora. She lets it fall on top of hers, a clear invitation. Catra’s so used to rejection, but she doesn’t know if she has it in her to deal with another one right now. She barely breathes as she waits for Adora to move. Finally, Adora intertwines their fingers together. The contact is cautious at first, but after a few seconds Adora tightens her grip and Catra can’t even get mad herself for the explosion of warmth that takes place on her chest.

“I hope Sparkles is smart enough to tell Horde Prime that she’s part of a giant superweapon,” she says after a while, because she needs to stop her thoughts from wandering down dangerous paths.

“Why would she do that?”

“ So he won’t dispose of her immediately?”  Catra asks sarcastically. She knows Adora has more sense in her than this, she must know Glimmer’s situation is a precarious one. “That should give you some time to figure out how to barge in and have She-Ra save the day.”

She can’t keep the bitterness out of her voice. Adora will do anything to save her little friend, there won’t be any other possibility in her mind. She never came back for Catra, but she has done it for Sparkles every single time.

Adora’s tone is full of dread. “You didn’t hear? She-Ra is gone.” 

Catra turns sharply towards her. “What?” She must have been even more out of it than she thought if she had missed something as big as that.

Adora turns her back on her, reaching for something under the bed. Eventually she lies down facing  Catra , She-Ra's broken sword on her hand. She offers it to her.  Catra’s hand hovers momentarily over it before taking it. She’s speechless looking at it. This is the thing that took Adora from her. This is the thing that set  Catra on her path to success. Every dream and every nightmare had been centered on it. And this is what’s become of it.

Catra feels giddy, and a laugh is bubbling up on her throat. That’s when she notices the tears streaming down Adora’s face. And isn’t this everything she’s ever wanted? She-Ra is gone. Adora is miserable. The Rebellion doesn’t stand a chance.

She lets the hilt fall from her hand and reaches for Adora instead. She comes to her without any resistance, and wastes no time in circling  Catra’s waist with her arms.  Catra yelps in pain, Adora’s hold is too strong. She gets used to it after the first seconds. It’s been years since she’s seen Adora with her hair down, and Catra would be ashamed to admit how badly she wants to sink her hands on it, but there’s no one here to judge her but herself, so she just decides to do it.

Adora shakes against her body. She’s clinging to  Catra like she’s the only thing keeping her safe.  Catra clings back just as strongly because she can’t keep pretending that deep down this isn’t the  thing she’s always wanted the most.

Slowly, Adora stops shivering, and her grip grows a bit more relaxed.  Catra hears her taking in even and purposeful breaths.  Catra freezes, waiting for her to pull back. She’ll be done with Catra now that her moment of weakness has passed.

But she doesn’t.

“I thought you said you’d leave if there was crying.”

“Kinda hard with the way you were holding on, princess. I wouldn’t be surprised if you broke one of my ribs.”

Adora gives her another bone-crushing hug because of course she does.  Catra still doesn’t move. She doesn’t think she can. She’s caught between her fears and her desires and, for once, she has no idea of what to do next. She has no idea of what Adora will do next. It's not a good feeling.

“Thank you,” she hears Adora whisper.

Catra doesn’t answer, because what would she even say?

“What happened with Hordak?”

“We are not having a heart to heart right now,”  Catra says, because they aren’t. She might not know exactly what is going on between them right now but she does know one thing: it will be over the second she admits what she did.

Adora chuckles against  Catra’s chest, then  lets go of her. She doesn’t go very far though. She stays a few inches away from  Catra , looking entirely too pleased with herself. Adora is  looking worse than  Catra has ever seen her. Her hair is a mess, her eyes are rimmed with red, the dark circles under her eyes look deeper than ever. It’s so unfair that she looks nothing less than beautiful. 

“Are you sure?”

Adora moves, and  Catra doesn’t know what she’ll do if she keeps getting closer.

“He might have been under the impression that Entrapta had betrayed him and joined the Rebellion.”

The effect the words have on Adora is immediate. She freezes in place, unable to do anything but stare at  Catra . Whatever dream space they’ve been living in for the last few minutes has vanished and now  Catra’s going to get dragged to hell. Again.

“Ok,” sighs Adora.

Catra blinks. “Ok?”

“Yeah, ok.”

She frowns. “What do you mean, ‘ok’?”

Adora shrugs. She shrugs. Like it’s nothing. “That it’s ok. What else can I say?”

Catra stays silent, trying to process this new turn of events.

“ So you are just going to let it go?” she asks, to clarify.

“Yup,” Adora pops the p extra hard, like she used to do when they were kids and she  tried to rile  Catra up.

“Are you sure you can do that?”

There’s no way she can do that.

“Yes,  Catra , I am sure,” Adora says slowly, like she’s indulging her. 

Catra squints at her. Is this some kind of trap?

“That doesn’t sound very Adora-like of you.”

Adora smiles at her. “Maybe I’ve changed.”

"Yeah, sure,”  Catra snorts.

“Excuse me!” Adora says, her voice high.

Adora reaches behind her for a pillow. By the time she’s on her knees trying to hit  Catra’s side,  Catra is ready to block her.

“What are you, six?” she yells when Adora takes a second swipe at her.

Adora doesn’t answer, she just keeps trying to land a hit.  Catra tries to dodge her as best as she can, but she quickly grows tired of it and starts retaliating. They are too equally matched though, and it’s not long before Adora grows tired of it and changes tactics. She pounces on  Catra , tackling her to the bed.  Catra tries using her pillow to bat her away, but Adora simply catches it midair and pushes it down on the mattress,  Catra’s hand still under it.

“Admit I might’ve changed!”

“Seriously, Adora?”

Catra uses her free hand to push Adora’s face. Adora retaliates by pinning it down too. 

“Admit it!”

Adora’s face is too close to hers, and  Catra needs her to move before she does something stupid like bridge the space between them. She doesn’t trust her voice enough to reply, so instead she sticks her tongue out.

Rather than letting her go, Adora lowers  herself, and Catra... stops. Her breath catches in her throat, and she’d swear her heart pauses too. She couldn’t move even if she wanted to. All the things that have tried to kill her in her life, just for her to die here, in Adora’s bed.

“Maybe I need to show you exactly how much I’ve changed,” Adora murmurs against Catra skin.

Before  Catra can even begin to react, Adora has already let herself fall to the side, giggling uncontrollably. It takes a few seconds for Catra to realize that she’s free to move now, and then, some more for her to be able to actually do it. She rushes to sit upright, but Adora is still too busy laughing to notice anything is off.  Catra punches her. Hard.

“It’s not funny!”

The laughing isn't giving any signs of dying down. “It’s kind of funny.”

Catra considers punching her again. She glares. She waits. She desperately tries to erase any and all thoughts that had crossed her mind while being held down by Adora. She glares some more. Eventually, Adora draws in a long breath and sighs, a huge grin spread across her lips.

Not that  Catra is staring at her lips, of course.

“Are you done?”

Adora grin gets even  bigger . “Maybe.”

“You know what? Maybe you are right, maybe you have changed.”

“Yeah?” And there’s Adora, ever hopeful.

“I think you are actually dumber now.”

Adora throws herself at  Catra , and they wrestle again for a while.  Catra is fast, but Adora’s strong, this is a thing that hasn’t changed.  Catra could cheat. She could kick harder, push her off the bed. But that isn’t what this is about. It’s not the childish games they used to play, nor the battles for dominance they’ve engaged in so frequently since Adora left the Horde. This is something new, something  Catra hesitates to name. It’s a display of trust. It’s a compromise. It's a promise.

It ends with Adora hovering over her for a second time. Catra’s hands are free, but she doesn’t do anything but look at her. Slowly, Adora gets closer, waiting for her next move. Catra closes her eyes, and lunges forward, kissing her. Adora kisses back just as fiercely. When she pulls back, it’s only to start laying kisses all over Catra’s face. Her cheek, her jaw, her neck. Catra holds onto Adora like a lifeline.

“I really, really, really don’t want to screw this up,” Adora says against  Catra’s skin. “I know I don’t understand you. I know I’ve hurt you. But I want to do better.”

“Ok.”

Adora draws back to look at her. “Ok?”

Catra closes her eyes. If she doesn’t, if she keeps staring at Adora’s innocent eyes, she’ll blurt out all the things she’s been waiting years to say, and she isn’t ready for that. Not yet. There’s still much to talk about between them. All the pain, all the hurt, that won’t go away in one night.  Catra needs to make it up to her, but she doesn’t know how. Adora wants to do better, she always wants to do better. But Catra’s the one who needs to change. She doesn’t know if she can, but she’ll try.

“I’m not like you, Adora, that’s the best I can give you.”

“Ok,” Adora rushes to say, “that’s ok.”

Adora leans down again, and, like before, lets  Catra be the one to close the space between them. She does.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not saying you should leave a comment pressuring sadiewrites to actually print and paste this on her wall, but I'm sure she would have a fun time reading them if that happened. You can also vote for her to use the excerpt I wrote in reply to her original comment instead of the whole fic, which reads as follows:  
>  Adora: *pins Catra's hand*  
>  Catra: ok this isn't gay Catra stop thinking about it being gay THERE'S NOTHING GAY HAPPENING HERE CATRA  
>  Adora: *pins down Catra's second hand, hovers closely above her face*  
>  Catra: NOT GAY NOT GAY NOT GAY NOT GAY NOT GAY  
>  Adora: “Admit it!”  
>  Catra: QUICK THINK OF SOMETHING NON-GAY TO DO *sticks her tongue out*  
>  Adora: *gets even closer*  
>  Catra: SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT  
>  Adora: *whispers dumb stuff besides Catra's ear* *pulls away overtaken by giggles*  
>  Catra: WTF ADORA THAT WAS SO FUCKING GAY how DARE you *punches her*


End file.
